UMass ranked 11th in licensing revenue over 20 year period

AMHERST - Fifteen years ago the University of Massachusetts didn’t even earn licensing revenue, now the five-campus system is ranked 11th on a list of universities with the highest licensing revenue for every million spent on research over a 20-year period.

The Chronicle of Higher Education compiled and analyzed the list based on a review of the Association of University Technology Managers data between 1991 and 2011.

According to a statement released by the university, the system also had the best record of any university in New England.

Not every higher education institution reports data to the association every year, and institutions with fewer than three years of reported data were excluded from the Chronicle’s analysis, according to the UMass release.

UMass did not start commercializing research until 1996 shortly after the creation of the five-campus system said, Tom Chmura, vice president for Economic Development in UMass President Robert L. Caret’s office.

“We made it a big push to put more attention on research,” he said.

He said the system is particularly gratified with the ranking because it’s over the 20-year period.

“We’re delighted to be number 11 in the United States. It’s something we’re very proud of.” He said they are proud of the faculty and scientists involved in the research.

According to the data, UMass has spent nearly $400.8 million annually over the 20-year period on research and generated $79,732 in licensing revenue every year for each million spent on research. Chmura said about 70 percent of the research is funded by federal grants with the remaining from state and private companies interested in the research.

New York University topped the list, generating $510,165 per every million spent. Its annual research expenditures were $236 million.

He said most of the revenue came from the UMass Medical School in Worcester, but he said with the recent $95 million awarded to UMass-Amherst for the creation of three new research centers at the university’s new $157 million life sciences building, he expects the campus “to become a bigger contributor than in the past.”

Last year the university spent nearly $600 million on research. “As research grows (there’s) more technology, more inventions by faculty. Some of them become commercial successes,” Chmura said, which brings in the revenue. The revenue in turn can be reinvested in research or in new buildings.

Last year, the Amherst campus accounted for $194.8 million in research spending.

“Research is important, for its own sake, because it expands the boundaries of human knowledge and fuels progress,” Caret said in a statement.

“But research also plays a critical role in driving our economy, as it leads to discoveries that create new products and new jobs. This new analysis demonstrates that UMass and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are receiving a remarkable return on investment in this area. We should be proud to see the University of Massachusetts ranked right alongside the nation’s innovation leaders.”

Yale University, Dartmouth College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the other New England institutions placed 23, 24 and 25 in the rankings.